A review of the literature addressing the nursing education of pulmonary artery catheterization was done. All pertinent English language articles dealing with nursing education and pulmonary artery catheterization were retrieved from 1983 through 1996. Clinical studies related to nursing education in this field were selected. Only two studies addressing nursing knowledge of pulmonary artery catheterization have been published to date. Both studies suggest that an improvement in several areas of nursing knowledge is necessary. Nurses need a standardized hemodynamic monitoring curriculum. At present, education of nurses is primarily institutionally based. While national guidelines exist for hemodynamic monitoring, no mechanisms are in place to
